1 hour ago 2

Dodgers magic number to clinch the National League West

With a week and a half left in the regular season, the Dodgers are closing in on potentially a fourth consecutive National League West crown and 12th in the last 13 seasons. They clinched their 13th consecutive postseason berth on September 19.

The Dodgers were off on Monday, while the Padres beat the Milwaukee Brewers in a series opener San Diego. Los Angeles is up two and a half games on San Diego.

Dodgers 88-68 (.564) - - -
Padres 86-71 (.548) 2 1/2 GB

By virtue of beating the Padres nine times in 13 games to secure the season series, the Dodgers hold the tiebreaker over San Diego. So they only need to tie the Padres to clinch the division.

The Dodgers magic number to clinch the National League West is now 3.

Put another way, the Dodgers have six games remaining, the Padres have five, and they don’t play one another. The Dodgers need three of those 11 outcomes to go their way to win the division, while the Padres need nine of 11 outcomes to fall their way to prevail in the division.

The Dodgers in the final week of the season hit the road to play the Diamondbacks and American League West-leading Mariners. The Padres are at home to face the best-record-in-baseball Brewers before finishing up against the D-backs.

If everything goes perfectly for the Dodgers, the earliest possible day they could clinch the division is Wednesday, September 24.